IMF: Energy Sector Poses Biggest Threat to Ghana’s Economy
Revenue shortfalls and inefficiencies in the power sector threaten Ghana’s economic stability, IMF warns
- IMF identifies Ghana’s energy sector as the biggest threat to its economy
- A major revenue gap exists between electricity production costs
- Energy sector reform remains central to Ghana’s IMF-backed recovery program
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has backed Ghana’s Finance Minister in warning that inefficiencies in the country’s energy sector represent the most significant danger to its economic health.
Stéphane Roudet, the IMF’s Mission Chief for Ghana, reiterated the Fund’s ongoing concerns about the sector’s financial instability, stressing that reforming the energy landscape remains a critical priority in Ghana’s IMF-supported recovery plan.
Speaking to Ghanaian reporters during the IMF Spring Meetings in Washington, D.C., Roudet pointed out a persistent challenge: the wide gap between the revenue collected by the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) and the actual cost of generating power.
This shortfall, he emphasized, has been a key issue since the beginning of the IMF program.
“We recognized early on that the energy sector faced significant issues,” Roudet said. “The main problem lies in the mismatch between ECG’s billing collections and the real expenses of power production—this is what we call the energy sector shortfall.”
Despite these hurdles, he expressed confidence in the Ghanaian government’s renewed commitment to tackling the crisis through meaningful reforms.
